Morning Digest: Trump orders strikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen; One killed, multiple injured after mob attacks police in Madhya Pradesh, and more  

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on March 16, 2025

President Donald Trump said he ordered a series of airstrikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on Saturday, promising to use “overwhelming lethal force” until Iranian-backed Houthi rebels cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor. Nine people were killed in strikes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced an attack on the Iran-backed group. Houthi vowed to respond to deadly strikes. “This aggression will not pass without a response, and our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement

Multiple police personnel and other officials suffered injuries in a mob attack in Madhya Pradesh’s Mauganj district on Sunday (March 16, 2025) when they went to a village to intervene into a clash between two groups and rescue a man who had been held hostage and later killed, officers said. Local reports and Congress State president Jitu Patwari also claimed that an assistant sub-inspector was also killed in the violence. However, the police are yet to confirm this.

An Indian PhD candidate at the prestigious Columbia University in the U.S., who was accused of being a “pro-Hamas sympathiser”, narrated that the U.S. immigration and customs enforcement agents raided her apartment on the campus housing and she had to seek help from immigration attorneys and has temporarily taken refuge in Canada. peaking to The Hindu in an online interview, Ranjani Srinivasan, who is in her fifth year of PhD, said she is “super afraid of retaliation” and that she is not yet aware of what specific charges were brought against her by the American authorities that led to her being “disenrolled” from the university just six months before she was to complete her PhD thesis.

Amid Opposition parties’ allegations of manipulation in voters lists, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has called for a meeting with Union Home Secretary, Legislative Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to explore linking of voter ID with Aadhaar. Election Commission (EC) sources on Saturday that Mr. Kumar will meet the officials on March 18.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said the “appeasement politics” of Congress, the latest example of which was the “unconstitutional” decision of the Karnataka government to provide 4% reservation to Muslims in government contracts, would weaken national unity.

In a letter to the Additional Director General (ADG) of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), gold smuggling accused Ranya Rao has alleged misconduct and ill-treatment by investigating officers. She penned the letter from inside the Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara in Bengaluru, where she is in judicial custody.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday sought a response from the Congress on the objective behind the Telangana government’s decision to involve a foreign expert for analysing the “sensitive” data of the caste survey in the State, stating that the move raised serious doubts about the motive.